Monday, August 16, 2010

1995 Topps: Part 1 (You Asked For It)

Much to my surprise, by more than a 2:1 ratio, you have voted for me to post a fully detailed box break of the 1995 Topps Series 1 box I picked up for $5 recently. Before anyone asks (and I'm sure you're all going to be lining up in the comments waiting to pounce on these cards) I will trade/send these cards out to those who have want lists for team collections first and secondly to anyone who just wants some cards or is collecting the set. That should still leave plenty for SpastikMooss.

Pack 1:

352 - Scott Kamieniecki (Scott says, "Settle in guys. This is going to be a bit of a hike.")

32 - Travis Fryman Cyberstats (One card per pack is a Cyberstats card, with "Spectra Light" foil stamped cards and a metallic background. This probably paved the way for Chrome the following year.)
328 - Craig Shipley

183 - Jim Edmonds (Cards on Cards favorite.)
230 - Jay Bell
346 - Armando Benitez Star Track
78 - Midre Cummings
40 - Travis Fryman (It's a Fryman bonanza.)
105 - Ken Caminiti
159 - Bill Wegman
188 - Billy Spiers
106 - Darrin Jackson (White Sox announcer.)
277 - Chris Gomez
222 - Jack Armstrong
230 - Jay Bell (Ugh, pack duplicates are never good.)

Pack 2:
177 - Chris Howard

84 - Chris Sabo Cyberstats (What is Chris Sabo without his patented Chris Sabo glasses? Nobody, that's who!)
198 - Jeff Branson
177 - Chris Howard (Ugh.)

262 - Allen Watson (First Cardinal of the box.)
41 - Mark Leiter (Al's bro.)
313 - Ramon Castro Draft Pick
234 - Felix Fermin
163 - Alex Fernandez (I thought Fernandez was going to be a superstar.)
315 - Marquis Grissom

228 - Darryl Kile (Another Cards on Cards fave. I really need to get my DK personal collection online, at least in list form.)
382 - Chris Haney
67 - Royce Clayton
46 - Ken Hill
272 - Rich Rowland

Pack 3:
172 - Hipolito Pichardo
115 - Kent Mercker Cyberstats
95 - Mark Langston (19-game winners never get any respect.)

246 - Brooks Kieschnick Future Star (I must have missed the days when Kieschnick reigned as a Star.)
116 - Rob Butler
97 - Mike Gardiner

386 - Matt Williams / Wade Boggs All-Stars (A couple of all-star players that I didn't care much for.)
327 - Randy Knorr
102 - Scott Brosius (Local dude.)
133 - Mike Hampton
32 - Tony Tarasco
76 - Charles Nagy
130 - Jeff Conine (It's easy to forget that Conine actually played for the Royals before he was the Original Marlin.)
254 - Matt Whiteside
232 - Harold Baines

Pack 4:
191 - Roberto Hernandez
183 - Jason Jacome Cyberstats
169 - Roberto Mejia
243 - Melvin Nieves
42 - Jose Bautista

48 - Pete Harnisch (I'm pretty sure that's not proper form.)
285 - Greg Swindell
104 - Kenny Lofton
38 - Tim Wallach (The mere fact that "Triple-Crown" is mentioned in relation to Wallach's 1994 season is enough to convince me that 1994 was not a real baseball season. The success of the Expos is another.)
334 - John Flaherty
240 - Joe Carter
278 - Joe Grahe
13 - Kenny Rogers (I'll always remember the dirty hand.)
14 - Jose Vizcaino

7 - Trevor Hoffman

Pack 5:
65 - Rick Aguilera
82 - Paul Sorrento Cyberstats (I liked Sorrento growing up when he was a Twins prospect playing in Portland.)
294 - Steve Howe (Howe was a pretty effective pitcher when not suspended due to drug-related issues.)
259 - Mike Thurman Draft Pick
121 - Mike Morgan
171 - Calvin Reese Future Star (Better known as Pokey.)

147 - Ray McDavid Star Track (McDavid must have fallen pretty far off the track, because I've never heard of him.)

170 - Wade Boggs (Clearly, there was something unsavory on that base.)
146 - Ed Sprague
119 - Tony Fossas
344 - Kirk Rueter (Rueter would eventually gain the nickname "Woody" based on his resemblance to the character from Toy Story.)
281 - Mike Bordick
164 - Freddie Benavides
272 - Rich Rowland (There are roughly 500 base cards in this box and 396 in the Series 1 set. There will be doubles, but probably more than necessary.)
121 - Mike Morgan

Pack 6:
98 - David McCarty (Another Twins/Portland Beavers prospect that never quite set the league on fire.)

61 - Mark Grace Cyberstats (Ah, the beauty of the Cyberstats card back. The whole point of the Cyberstats thing was to "simulate" players' full season data as if the strike never happened... taking injuries and potential pitching matchups into account, no doubt. You can read all about this set, especially the card backs, over at Night Owl Cards.)
152 - Jose Offerman (I was going to make my Jose Offerman joke here, but I forgot to scan the card. Okay, fine. Jose Offerman is actually not committing an error in this picture. Well... you'll have to take my word for it. And here you probably thought I was going in a different direction with this.)
49 - James Baldwin Future Star

- Own the Game Instant Winner (I won! Wait... what did I win? A Kansas City Royals 1995 Spectra Light team set? Ah, I'm just almost 15 years too late. Does anyone have any of these team sets?)

138 - Rheal Cormier (Proud Canadian Cardinal.)

3 - Babe Ruth 100th Birthday (Before there were all of the Mantle cards, Topps honored The Babe with card #3.)
270 - Johnny Ruffin
327 - Randy Knorr
239 - Ben Rivera

44 - Bret Barberie (The goofy, puffy cloud photo is actually a common theme in this set as you'll find in the coming posts/days.)
338 - Stan Javier
312 - Jim Thome
223 - Todd Hundley
255 - Darrin Fletcher

Pack 7:
169 - Roberto Mejia
180 - Randy Myers Cyberstats
331 - Alex Cole
207 - John Wasdin Future Star
371 - Orlando Miller Star Track
209 - Tim Belcher
217 - Pat Mahomes (This is a nice set for the ex-Beavers. Mahomes was a fun flamethrower who could never really figure out how to keep the ball near the strike zone.)

24 - Rene Arocha (Arocha was one of the first Cuban defectors that I was aware of. He had a fairly short Major League career.)

342 - Scott Servais (Whoa, dude. This is another common theme in this set, as evidenced by the pack wrapper. Upper Deck popularized the whole multi exposure thing with their first few sets and Topps finally decided to copy them when they had probably moved on to some other gimmick.)
309 - Kevin Seitzer
194 - Travis Miller Draft Pick
210 - Jeff Montgomery
1 - Frank Thomas (I don't want to go all Steroids Debate on you, but I feel like Frank Thomas could have literally hit home runs with his arms. He didn't need any help and I'm pretty sure he didn't have any.)
7 - Trevor Hoffman
185 - Jeff Kent

Pack 8:
162 - Luis Gonzalez
39 - Joey Hamilton Cyberstats
183 - Jim Edmonds
95 - Mark Langston

LL5 - Moises Alou League Leaders (Ah ha! An insert card. Neither the pack wrappers or the box itself make any mention that there are inserts in this stuff beyond the Cyberstats cards, but according to the almighty Beckett, these were seeded at 1:6 packs.)

385 - Carlos Baerga / Bret Boone All-Stars

384 - Jeff Bagwell / Frank Thomas All-Stars (Bagwell and the Big Hurt kind of trump Baerga/Boone, I would think.)
219 - Kevin Rogers (At least he's not Kenny.)
80 - Rafael Palmeiro
235 - Ellis Burks
311 - Bryan Harvey
200 - Tim Salmon
10 - Matt Williams
230 - Jay Bell (Jay Bell #3 for those keeping track.)
295 - Greg Maddux

Pack 9:
362 - Chad Kreuter (I should really caption contest this card.)

64 - Barry Bonds Cyberstats

139 - Paul Konerko Draft Pick (Konerko has a career best OPS of .955 this season.)
294 - Steve Howe
373 - Richie Lewis
392 - Greg Maddux / David Cone All-Stars (Whoa, it's like deja vu.)
392 - Greg Maddux / David Cone All-Stars (Whoa, it's like deja vu.)
264 - Brent Mayne
65 - Rick Aguilera
109 - Danny Miceli
339 - Mike Fetters
94 - Carlos Hernandez
100 - Barry Bonds (Bonds Pack.)
255 - Darrin Fletcher
279 - Rusty Greer

Tune in next time for more YouTube clips of Coors Light commercials.

5 comments :

  1. Ouch. Pack doubles. I thought Topps was too good for that.

    1995 was the highlight of the decade for Topps. Very nice set. I've been tempted to collect the set so many times that I wrote a blog post scolding myself for thinking of such a thing.

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  2. What can I say about those...um, the last card was Rusty Greer? Yay Rangers!

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  3. Sweeeet, nice cards! I agree on the Sabo comment...I used to get confused when I saw that card and then matched it up with my 1989 Topps or something as a kid. I thought there were 2 different Sabos for a little while.

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  4. That design is so horrid...but in 95 I was buying just about anything and everything baseball card related. When I went through my period of not collecting though I must've dumped all of these cards since I no longer have them. Odd...

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  5. One of the reasons I voted for you to show everything was to reinforce that I NEVER want to open a box myself. I agree with Colbey - this set looks terrible, and it really disappointed me that they went with Spectralight instead of Gold.

    But, that being said, I would love the Maddux cards if no one else claims them!
    --Jon

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Comments are highly encouraged, but then again, so is eating your fruits and vegetables.